EHS Hosts College Admissions Panel

College applications can be a source of both great stress and excitement for high schoolers, but an April 28 event at Eastchester High School served to pulled back the curtain on a process that can seem daunting to some. 

On Tuesday evening, nearly 200 high schoolers and their families packed into the EHS cafeteria to hear from a panel of college admissions counselors who offered important tips on how to approach this undertaking and find the right fit for their post-high school studies.

EHS Guidance Department Chair Heather Reilly noted that the event had been a staple at EHS prior to COVID, but changes to the college admissions process—and how admissions counselors perform their jobs—temporarily put the annual panels on hiatus until this week.

“The landscape of college admissions has changed so much since COVID, and these admissions offices didn’t return to the same routines they had previously; there just aren’t as many counselors traveling for live activities,” said Reilly. “But we really felt that it was important to have an event like this in-person instead of as a virtual evening, so this fall, we started reaching out to colleges to see if they would be willing to participate.”

The response was solid, added Reilly, as six college admissions counselors served on Tuesday’s panel, including representatives from SUNY Binghamton, Barnard College, Lafayette College, Boston University, Sacred Heart University, and the University of Alabama. 

The event was open to all EHS students, although the majority of attendees were sophomores and juniors, no great surprise considering that these are the grades that often have the most questions about the college application process. The panelists answered a number of questions compiled by the EHS Counseling Department during their continuing work with students.  

“These questions were all based on questions that we are asked all the time," said Reilly. "We used questions that parents ask us, ones that students ask us, and questions that we encourage students to ask when they are with a college representative, like at our college fair in the fall.”

The event also fit nicely into EHS’s college planning schedule, added Reilly. 

“During Advisory on April 15, counselors worked with 11th grade students on Naviance and College Kickstart, helping them use these tools to research colleges and begin building their application lists. On May 13, counselors will meet with students to begin setting up Common App accounts and exploring the college essay,” she said. “This is the most important time for the juniors, but for the 10th graders, the timing was also perfect, as it aligned just right with the start of our College Planning Workshops.”

Based on the terrific turnout on Tuesday, Reilly said the Counseling Department is eager to begin planning future events that will help Eastchester students get a better sense of how to make the most of their college planning experience. 

“One of the things you’ll hear from students is that they don’t know what to ask, they don’t know what to be looking for yet,”  she said. “These events help to put more ideas into their minds so they can ask those questions and research more effectively.”

To watch the video from the EHS 2026 College Admissions Panel, please the link HERE.